When i did see the title of the thread i thought he really was selling his life... after the payment, he would be a slave for life... or something like this...
What he sold is not his life, but the things he owns. The fact that it was called "his life" shows how materialist our society has become...

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"Everything we do, everything we are, rests on our personal power. If we have enough of it, one word uttered to us might be sufficient to change the course of our lives. But if we don't have enough personal power, the most magnificent piece of wisdom can be revealed to us and that revelation won't make a damn bit of difference." Don Juan Matus - Tales of Power